Marika Koroibete to miss Wallabies tour

One of the Wallabies’ most popular players will miss the upcoming tour of Japan and the UK in order to spend time with family.

Popular winger Marika Koroibete has chosen to miss the Wallabies’ spring tour of Japan and the UK in order to spend time with his young family.

Koroibete was the Wallabies’ best player in the series win over France earlier this year and took that strong form into the Rugby Championship.

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He missed the birth of his son to play all three games against Les Bleus, so Wallabies coach Dave Rennie agreed to let the try-scoring machine leave camp before the last match against Argentina.

On Sunday, Rennie said Koroibete would also miss the Wallabies’ spring tour, which kicks off against Japan in Oita next Saturday.

“We’ve been discussing it for a while,” Rennie said.

“Covid’s thrown a lot of curveballs at all of us. Marika’s been away from home for a long time and (his partner) Emma is pretty isolated down there (in Melbourne).

“They’ve had a newborn baby and they’ve got a couple of other young boys so based on those situations, Marika’s decided not to tour.”

Rennie was confident the Wallabies’ roster depth could cover for Koroibete’s absence without a replacement needing to be called in, at least for now.

“We think we’ve got enough numbers here in Japan. We’ll work that out once we get to the UK,” he said.

For the final match of the Rugby Championship, Andrew Kellaway started his man-of-the-match performance on Koroibete’s wing, bringing Jordan Petaia into the starting side.

Petaia, Filipo Daugunu, Reece Hodge and uncapped Wallaby Izaia Perese are among those who could replace Koroibete this time around.

“As always, it’s an opportunity,” Rennie said.

“Marika didn’t play the last game, Jordy got a start, it gave Tom Wright a sniff off the bench and he played really well. (Wing) is a position we’ve got a bit of depth in.

“Marika’s an unbelievable player. He’s got a massive work ethic and physicality, so big shoes to fill, but we’ve got good depth here.”

Pone Fa’amausili, one of four uncapped Wallabies named in the 37-man tour squad, has also remained behind in Australia after tweaking his calf at training last week.

“We’ll leave him at home to have a decent off-season to try and get that right. He’s had ongoing issues around his calves and hamstrings,” Rennie said.

A question mark hangs over the availability of two of the veterans Rennie lured back from Japan for the Rugby Championship.

Suntory Sungoliath’s Sean McMahon has already left the Wallabies’ bubble to spend time with his family and he may be joined on the sideline by Quade Cooper and Samu Kerevi, who are contracted to Japanese sides Kintetsu Liners and Suntory, respectively.

Under World Rugby’s Regulation 9, the pair must be released by their clubs for international duty, but Rennie appears unlikely to select either men if the Japanese sides feel strongly about their chances of picking up injuries on tour.

“We’ve been talking to both clubs. The relationship side of it is key for us,” he said.

“Samu got a syndesmosis injury in the last game. We’ll test that over the coming days to get clarity on whether he’s available this week.

“From a Reg 9 perspective, players have to be released for national duty, so that includes Scotland, England and Wales for us. But we’re also conscious that we want to build a strong relationship with the clubs so we’re talking through that at the moment.”

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